Once upon a time, Saints Row was tipped as the ‘new’ Grand Theft Auto, with its sprawling urban open-world and a big focus on gang warfare – and while it didn’t take long for us to realise developer Volition didn’t quite have the pedigree of Rockstar, once the series started embracing its over-the-top action and violence, it really came into its own. Whether you liked its slapstick silliness and purposefully offensive humour or not, Saints Row: The Third perfected that formula and made for one of the best virtual playgrounds of the previous generation.

And here it is, bold as brass, on Nintendo Switch as Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package. It’s one of those games you never expected to be remastered for a new generation, especially this close to the end of the current one. But Koch Media has been plunging deep into the recesses of its IP archive, and it has revived Volition’s best crack of the open-world whip. The result is a proper little sandbox, full of races, side-activities and collectables. Steelport may not be the most thrilling of urban locales, but there’s just so much to do amid its soaring skyscrapers and sprawling highways that you’re unlikely to notice.

Much like the previous entries, Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package follows the continued rise of the fun-loving titular faction. Starting out as nothing more than a bunch of gang bangers in the first game, Johnny Gat and co are now a media empire with some serious clout. However, their rivals have also grown in power and confidence, and when a heist goes awry the Third Street Saints find themselves suddenly forced to start again with nothing more than some purple clothes, a handful of guns and a whole lot of bad intentions. It’s a neat way to show you just how many fun toys you can eventually earn – ranging from guided missile-launching drones to armoured VTOL aircraft – as you slowly rebuild your status.

You can design your own character, including a choice of four voices that are fully represented in cutscenes and in-game chatter. There’s even a zombie voice, which still makes for laugh-out-loud moments when your character is slurring their way through a heated conversation or gurgling along to a song while driving between missions. Saints Row's characters aren’t as well realised as Grand Theft Auto's, but the attention to detail in ambient conversations and character reactions shows just how far the series had come by this point. You’ll get access to a lot of costumes and clothing items thanks to the raft of included DLC, and you can buy more with in-game cash from various stores across the map.

Much like every other open-world game out there, Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package is inundated with side-activities to complete when you’re not hanging off the side of a skyscraper sniping members of the Morning Star gang or skydiving into a gunfight to the sounds of Kanye West. What makes this extra content so enjoyable is just how silly it is. For instance, you can play Insurance Fraud and turn on ragdoll physics as you launch yourself into oncoming traffic in order to rack up the biggest claim.

Or, perhaps, you’ll take on Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax, an insane cross between a Japanese game show and an instalment of Saw. Want to make money while dodging traps and killing people dressed as colourful mascots? Of course you do, and Genki’s side activities never fail to entertain and challenge in equal measure. It’s all throwaway, much like the game itself, but it refuses to take itself seriously in the way the Watch Dogs or Mafia games often do, and that sense of comedic self-awareness makes Steelport more of a playground than most other sandboxes outside of Rockstar's finest.

You can really tell this is a game from 2011, though. The gunplay can sometimes be a little unsatisfying as hitboxes are intermittent at best and some guns are so woefully underpowered that until you upgrade them they almost feel useless. There are still way too many escort missions with difficulty spikes that can occasionally take the fun out of the experience. Oh, and those brutes are just as ridiculously fast, despite being built like tanks. You can tell no changes have been made to Saints Row: The Third's mechanics, just technical changes to make it fit on Switch.

There’s still no means of manually taking cover, so it’s either a case of crouching behind something high enough or simply standing behind a piece of scenery long enough to set up your next shot. Then again, this isn’t really a game that wants you to catch your breath; instead, it wants you to leap into every gunfight with a rocket launcher and a dildo-shaped baseball bat. Sure, some of the mission checkpoints are a little unfair, but considering Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package rarely repeats itself or runs out of barmy ideas, some sins can be forgiven. This is, however, a game that revels in its comedic approach to sex and violence, and some missions – such as one that requires you to get a sex change – might offend more contemporary sensibilities.

As a port, the Nintendo Switch version of Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package looks and runs really well – especially for a game as old as Skyrim. The frame rate only ever stutters during cutscenes, and runs super-smooth during actual gameplay. Draw distances are solid and there is some pop-in here and there – especially when you’re gunning down a highway on a souped-up motorbike or cutting through the air in a VTOL. There’s quite a lot of motion blur employed when you’re skydiving or putting the pedal to the metal, but most of the dynamic lighting effects and texturing have been retained. Yes, it’s a seven-and-a-half-year-old game, but it still looks rather good on Switch.

Furthermore, there’s now support for co-op, including local play and online sessions. Whether you’re running through the streets naked shooting a gun that fires mind-controlling octopuses or going on a rampage with a purple-branded tank, Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package only gets better with a friend causing equal amounts of destruction in tow. And with three full-story expansions and over 30 DLC items all as standard, it lives up to its new subtitle.

Conclusion

While no one expected it – and we dare say that no one asked for it – Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package revives an often forgotten open-world adventure on a new console generation, complete with a huge amount of cosmetic and expansion DLC. While it's showing its age mechanically (and in terms of taste), in visual terms it’s a robust sandbox filled with outlandish activities, hyperactive ideas and the kind of diverse mission design most open-world titles fail to fully realise. With support for both local and online co-op, this version of Saints Row’s best outing is a steal. We might not ever get a Grand Theft Auto on Switch, but this is probably the next best thing.

Bearded malcontent Dom has been writing about games for so long he's practically forgotten what reality looks like. Over his career he's written for just about every site and mag out there. You'll almost always find him catching Pokémon or yelling at dragons in Skyrim.

Glad to hear it runs well. Will definitely pick it up now. Still my favorite one in the series, besides the first. 2 was great, and more grounded, but it has aged horribly. This holds up nice, and doesnt peter out halfway through, like 4 does. Love those powers tho.

NL confuses me sometimes. Only a 7? Oh well. I`ll wait for the day-one patch, and subsequent reviews, but as long as the frame rate is steady, I`ll get it for sure. Rockstar doesn`t want my money, so Saints Row it is.

Handheld mode looks and runs at roughly 30fps. It's the only way I'll play this unless they patch it.

Docked is another story... It consistently dips to the low 20s (maybe lower) when craps popping off and stuff is exploding (which is what this game's all about). There's painfully obvious pop-in whenever you're flying. The textures are bad.

I like the game but it definitely DOESN'T run smoothly, especially in 1080p docked.

My copy is preloaded and ready to go. As long as it’s pretty steady at 30fps in handheld I’m happy. Large open world, crude humor, ability to make your character into a GOD basically.... what’s not to love? This is one of the first games in recent times to remind me of the old days with God Mode / Super Jump codes. The other primary one being Crackdown, but no XB1 anymore, so SR3 it is!

Yeah, I'm still buying it, albeit at a later date and despite having loved SR4.

"We might not ever get a Grand Theft Auto on Switch, but this is probably the next best thing."Honestly, looking at GTA now I could care less if one makes it to Switch or not. Unless if real changes were made to make the next GTA anything but a rehash, I can't care for GTA as much as I used to back in the day anymore.

@Dm9982 Agreed. I think the last GTA I enjoyed was San Andreas. After that, I haven't played much of the series, though when I played through V a fair amount I realized that those days of me doing all sorts of weird stuff around a digital city were over. I just lost interest and motivation to keep going.

@Dm9982 Same here. I really enjoy the over the top, larger than life, action comedy movie vibe in SR 3/4. It’s like the difference between Battlefield and Duke Nukem. I’m grabbing my copy at lunch tomorrow, and may or may not get any work done for the rest of the day.

@Agramonte Yeah, anything below 30 fps should DEFINITELY be mentioned even if the dips into the 20s are relatively brief. Hopefully they can add a performance mode/high frame rate mode for docked play.

@StephenYap3@AlohaPizzaJack Yeah that’s also why ignored NLs review on Shakedown Hawaii, and glad I did. It’s basically SR on SNES. 😆. One thing that I’ve loved about certain open worlds, like Godfather, Shakedown, Vice City.... the whole city takeover/building aspect. Been a long time fan of Simcity style games, and when you mash that together with organized crime it’s perfect.

@SBandy Haven’t read anything from them for awhile but, yes, they politely ripped the game to shreds. It’s review is extremely short and uninvolved though. As if put together by someone that couldn’t be bothered, noticed technical problems with it, slapped a 6.8 on it and walked away. It does make me nervous now. The 360 version had frame rate problems when it 1st came out and I was hoping they solved that for this port. Looks like I’m gonna find out the hard way.

I've already preloaded it and plan to play it docked. I now wish I had never read the comments below the review. I spent about an hour last night trying to decide whether to buy Final Fantasy X/X2 or Saints Row 3 and Observer, I decided for the latter combo as I'm knee deep in Dragons Dogma and wanted a fun GTA style game on Switch. Hopefully it'll be patched soon.

I loved this game and having it on a portable is amazing. This 7 honestly makes me makes it hard for me to take this reviewers scores seriously. Just two months ago he gave RICO an 8/10 and that game has always been a buggy mess that never got the patch it desperately needs. It also turned out to be a very repetitive one trick game that got old after an hour. Saints Row 3 is a game where you are just barely starting to dive into it's depth an hour in.

Who do you believe when it comes to the reviews for this game?!?!!!It’s simply one persons opinion to another’s. If I love football and someone doesn’t, then I’ll like fifa 19 and they won’t. Simple as that really. Will have to see it and make your own minds up I think.

Definitely going to pick this up in the morning when it launches. I played it way back on the 360 just a little and had a ton of fun. You guys have a pretty good review of it. But it's funny to see the comment section here, as usual, saying they'll wait for other reviews before making the purchase. The world is so mindless nowdays we base our opinions on other peoples opinions.....huh. oh well. I'm so thankful I dont have this derangement the masses have of not having my own brain and opinions. Anyways I digress. Great game. I'll be having a blast when I clock out of work tomorrow with my copy.

Wouldn't be surprised if Rockstar does finally get off it's ass and release some more games at this point. There seems to be a pattern of weaker titles, releasing similar games before the more popular ones do.

@Indominus_B that's the way its always been though, humans basing their choices based on other humans. Reviews have been around for over 50 years in the current style, so its nothing new. What is relatively new is the amount of money a publisher has to pay a reviewer to get a certain rating, which is probably why all the reviews for this game come out at 7 - because that's how much the publisher wants to pay for the review. Anyway, where can we play this game for free before buying so we can review ourselves? I'm not sure there is an option for that!

@Blofse I think it’s out of order to suggest that review scores are bought. I don’t know the reviewer of this game, nor do I always agree with his reviews, but I respect his right to score the game as he sees fit, having actually played it for review. Do you have any evidence that reviewers are on the take? If not, any point you are trying to make about endemic corruption in games journalism rings hollow, and seems neither particularly clever nor funny.

I really liked the game when I played it on the 360 back in 2011 and I'll probably buy it for Switch eventually. Hopefully if this game finds some moderate success SquareEnix takes note and ports over Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition. I like SR 3 but Sleeping Dogs is one awesome open world game, very underrated.

Then why did you even click on this review and comment that it was "pretty good" when you are not "mindless" like everyone else.

I get the feeling you are talking a load of bull. You are one of those types who will side with a review if it agrees with your pre conceived notion of a game and deny any review that contradicts that view.

Snagged myself an early copy and put about 5 hours into it last night. Loving playing in handheld mode so haven't even tried it docked, but very happy with the game so far...as outlandish as I remember, still funny and despite a little bit of a deadzone on the left stick (especially when driving) i'm having a blast. Managed to get it for £30 with delivery so well chuffed.

I look to reviews for information on features etc and any negatives that stand out. In this case we have one site saying the game runs terribly compared to a 13 year old console and another site saying the game runs fine. How the game actually runs should be a factual thing rather than an opinion and that is why it stuck out for me.

99% of the time I already know I am getting a game before any reviews etc come out and rarely do they influence my buying decision. What I do pay more attention to is word of mouth from the general gaming community. Most recent example is God of War, I had no interest but the vast majority of normal gamers who played it kept saying how amazing it was. I bought God of War at the start of the year and I am on my third playthrough. Astounding game.

The reason I love my switch is because not every game is a “open world, filled with meaningless side activities”. So I will pretend this poor man GTA never was released and look foward to more original ideas.

My copy is on its way to my home, expected to be delivered during this morning (CET).

Well, I'm a big fan of GTA series, but Saints Row always caught my attention. Still have to finish SR1, but I had little doubts when I saw the price of this release I passed on when it was released on Xbox 360.

What I don't understand, thought, is the line about technical changes made to make it fit into the Switch. I mean, people has been saying a lot that the Switch should be technically superior to PS360, so... why technical changes had to be made here? As in "cuts"? I don't get it.

"As a port, the Nintendo Switch version of Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package looks and runs really well – especially for a game as old as Skyrim. The frame rate only ever stutters during cutscenes, and runs super-smooth during actual gameplay."

I think we've played different games as there is a lot of slowdown during Whored mode, multiple instances of framerate dropping in game and game crashing glitches.

Definitely other reviews and people are pointing out the performance problems. I'm a on-the-go player (I don't have the time at home, and when I have it I give love to my Xboxes), but if I ever wanted to play on TV I would hate to see it perform badly. I'm considering re-selling the game and buying it on Xbox 360 instead, knowing that the DLC is on disc and can buy it second-hand.

@Ricochet72 Good point. The thing is this kind of game is something I like to play sitting on my couch, possibly with a beer near my hand. But I liked the idea of playing it on the go for once... until I started seeing all these bad reviews in the graphics and performance department. That's certainly disappointing.

For all those that complain about the different opinions between IGN and Nintendo Life's reviews, buy the game, play it and then complain either here or there. But mind you, complain AFTER you play it.

It’s nothing like GTA, I never understood why people compared it to that.But on the game, Saints Row 3 is when the series went downhill and in a completely different direction to the first two games. If those two came to Switch I’d buy them, but I’m not interested in playing SR3 again.

@Stocksy 7 is a good score based on number alone, don't forget that taste differs from person to person and that 7 could easily be an 8 to you as well. This is why i take reviews for games & films/anime with a pinch of salt.. Not everyone has the same taste.

Definite discount buy for me. Picked it up for PC at a price near to nothing, so can't get myself to pay this price for it. Still really want it as this is as close to a new GTA experience as it's gonna get for now.

I'm not going to criticize the way Dom reviews games, it's his right to do however he sees fit. But I also was reading great things in this review until I bumped into the relatively low score. Doesn't quite match. But hey, I know a guy that every time he says he loves a game he gives it a 6 or a 7, so it must be that.

The fact that serious performance issues are not mentioned worries me more.

I'm waiting for the results of day 1 patch before I unseal my copy. I understand one has to judge after trying things first-hand, but if I don't like it, its price will tank if I've unsealed it already, so... And it's not like I can't have the exact same game on another system, and a little cheaper, so I think it'll be wise to wait a little. And if I don't like what I read I'll sell it.

About people relying too much on others' opinions... well, it's true, but what do we have to do? Buy mindlessly? Like we were casual Wii owners of the kind that only bought movie licensed crappy games? I don't think so. We all have limited budgets, space and spare time, so we have to make informed purchase decisions. I'd love to buy things without the influence of other people, but I'm not rich, so I have to base my decisions on something.

How can they say it runs well and looks good? It doesn't! The game looks worst than on 360 docked and the framerate consistently drop below 30. On top of that there is no antialiasing! This review is not so honest.

@Indominus_BCan't speak for anyone else but I'm more concerned about how the switch runs the game. There seems to be quite a bit of difference depending on which review you read! I'm all for making my own opinion about a game but for the price of this port it doesn't hurt to do a bit of research to make sure it runs well before dropping your money on it.

I am hoping that between the various users and reviewers having different experiences with the framerate that this isn't a problem solved by the old turning off the switch completely after dl trick. It would really be ridiculous if the reviewers didn't try that.

@LOZ_Master95 I haven't been liking Dom's reviews around this site because they seem to lack honesty and consistency. Like he will review a buggy indie game and give it a very high score while never really mentioning it's issues and then he will give a lower score to a better game that has it's own issues he won't really get into either.

It's like I got nothing personal against the guy but my issues with his reviews goes well beyond disagreeing with an opinion. He just never seems to address things that he should and the way he scores games is inconsistent and doesn't seem to reflect the actual quality.

@Agramonte Outside of 1st party Nintendo titles, which generally hold their value, then absolutely most new ports on new hardware are generally 2-3X as much as the previous gen at launch. Give it 12 months, and SR3 will $20 or less used.
You have to factor in the relative nature of time, before declaring something as overpriced or not.
Also if SR3 was a rare or high demand game all these years later, those old copies would not be as cheap as they are.

So yes, my reasoning for why SR3 is of course more expensive on Switch, compared to older consoles, and why no one should be surprised, is valid.

@Kalmaro You're part of the problem. There's no such thing as PC just Correct. There's nothing wrong with people taking offense to this game just because you don't care. This game doesn't offend me one bit, I've played all the SR games, but don't be a douche about how other people might feel. I think NL saying it may offend people and the whole PC thing is a bit of a stretch anyway. It didn't really piss people off when it came out the first time and I doubt it will now.

@SnesSwitch Says the Nintendo fanboy? Like being a fanboy does any good these days? You're just missing out on what other consoles have to offer. SR:TT didn't get hot reviews when it first came out either.

@Stocksy It's just a slightly above average game and it was when it came out. It was already riding on the coat tails of GTAIV when it was released and it was funny but super repetitive and nothing special.

@EVIL-C Yes... but just because it is "obvious" that a failed Console game like Starlink can be had physical at a fraction of the "new" $59 Digital PC version. Does not mean people are not commenting and posting the difference on Steam.

I know for a fact that a 2017 model car will be cheaper than the new 2019. But does not stop my father in Law showing me the paper with the actual difference 😅

I like how NL just assumes people will get super offended by this game like it came out 20 years ago. NO ONE cared in 2011 and they don't care now. SR:TT is probably the least offensive game to have been released at that time and now. People saying it's not "PC" are part of the problem as it's just Correct. If people don't like it, so what? We as gamers feel some obligation to go after groups of people who don't like something because we pride ourselves as the "nothing ever offends me I'm made of steel" crowd. Games CAN be insensitive and it CAN be wrong whether you accepit or it not. We all grow up differently in different cultures, households, and with different values.

Now SR doesn't offend me one bit, it's rather ridiculous rather that some times just isn't really funny but more shock value, and that's what the series went for since the very first game. I've played them all and they are rather forgettable. Fanboys getting up in arms because the Switch version didn't score 9's and 10's are just as ridiculous as the people saying this game isn't allowed to rub people the wrong way.

As for the performance, I saw this coming a mile away. The Switch just isn't powerful enough to run DirectX 11 games as my 2010 gaming laptop couldn't even run this on highest settings. This is also just a port so the publisher isn't going to dump a dumb amount of money into the game to get it running perfect. Patches can fix this up a bit later.

Weeeeell, I read the reviews and the performance sounds disappointing. But, the game sounds a giggle and it isn't that expensive so I picked it up after work from Game (UK). They gave me a Deluxe freebie pack too, which is nice.

@ivory_soul A Proud Nintendo Fan! I’ve been playing Nintendo since I was 4 years old! Many games from PlayStation came to Nintendo Switch, like Crash for example! And xbone “Exclusives” are also out for PC and Nintendo Switch(CupHead)! So I’m not missing anything lol. I own a high end PC, so sony and Microsoft are pointless to me! Nintendo and PC is all I need!

@SnesSwitch There are plenty of PlayStation exclusives you're missing out on. I mean a TON. It's an entire side of gaming you're missing out on. If you have never touched a PS console you really need to go back, bro. There's a reason why the PS2 is the best selling console of all time. It was all those exclusives and why the PS4 won this generation of consoles. The only Xbox One exclusive not on PC is Rare Replay, but I feel you for Xbox. Microsoft really dropped the ball this generation, but I still love my One X for multi-platform console exclusive games.

Also Crash was never a PS exclusive. It was a time release and they already announced it would come to other consoles later. It was a good faith gesture to PS fans since the original games stayed PS exclusive. No other exclusive PS4 game has made it to other systems and never will. God of War (the single best game of this entire generation hands down), Horizon, Killzone, Gran Turismo Sport, Days Gone, Last of Us, The Last Guardian, Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Until Dawn, The Order, plus many other JRPGs.

@Mii_duck I got the freebie pack too, haha. I'm already hanging the poster in my office space. I played the game on 360 and it absolutely is a blast. It's like a Buddy Comedy Action flick meets Godfather. Enjoy it!

Games devs must not be as good as they were years ago as every single game released seems to need a day one patch to get it to run properly !!!!!Why can’t they finish a game before they release it? What happens when the patch is no longer available because the server it is on no longer exists ? I can get get my old ps2 games out and play them without any of the hassle even now years later. At the end of the day I think the games industry is starting to get lazy and take the piss out of gamers by releasing games that aren’t finished. Not good enough.

I'm a couple of hours in, playing docked and so far it's all been fine. No noticeable slowdown and can't say the framerate bothers me. I haven't played it on any other console, but for me the graphics seem serviceable enough on Switch. Not mind blowing (on a tangent - Hellblade on Switch is just amazing) but good enough.

Had one crash when I tried to access my 'crib' but that's it.

Aiming isn't the easiest, but you can fiddle about in the settings to improve that.

So far I'm happy with the purchase, I'm enjoying it - the pace of the action and the humour.

@Indominus_B to be fair, you can’t really call people who want to read reviews before making and informed and ‘mindful’ decision, when you yourself are just going to buy the game regardless of any available information and ‘mindlessy’ spend your money without consideration.

It’s a bit hypocritical and an opinion based purely on ignorance. Discussion and research is always smart.

@Ajent to be fair, I knew my comment would trigger the people who do just what I talked about but I had no clue it would still have people bent out of shape 2 days after I posted it. To be fair, you can generally tell when a game is something that interest you and to be fair, you can spend your money on that game and usually it works out that way. Ignorance is basing your own opinion on another persons opinion without ever trying it for yourself. I dont believe you know the definition of ignorance otherwise you wouldnt have made such a hypocritical and contradicting comment yourself, numbnuts. If you genuinely cant tell if something interest you based on what you've had experience with having fun in the past, you may be just a tad bit "mindless" as I said and need to sit and do some soul searching. An opinion based on another persons opinion? I get it, it's the modern day pc culture and most the world has lost its ability to think for itself. I'll just continue to make my own decisions and you can continue to let ign and digital foundry and nintendo life and other media outlets make yours. Besides if what I said carried no weight, you wouldnt be sitting there offended and triggered 2 days after it was originally posted.

Right then. After reading all the negativity about this game I was dreading it arriving. Well, while there is slight slowdown during explosions the game is a joy to play. If you want it. Then buy it. Excellent gameplay and loads of fun

@Ajent No sir. You didnt like what I had to say and since it doesnt coincide with what you believe, I'm suddenly toxic. You sound ridiculous and a bit hypocritical. You dont want to feel stupid? Dont try entering a debate with me on something you have no idea about. I told you to learn some definitions and come back and you respond with I need a dictionary? Your confused. Take a seat. Better luck next time you cant win them all.

First of all, Saints Row: The Third is better than any GTA game. And it isn't just some poor man's clone. It's very different, just in the same genre.

Second, the line "While no one expected it – and we dare say that no one asked for it" is just unbelievably poor writing and reasoning. Your opinion instantly loses all value and credibility when you make such a preposterously inane comment like "no one asked for it". It has no critical value whatsoever, is entirely meaningless in and of itself and serves as an attempt to make some form of misguided slight about it being unwanted. No one asked for the Nintendo Switch. No one asked Nintendo to make an open world Zelda game. No one asked for Super Mario Odyssey. No one asked for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Hell, no one asked for the original Mario Bros. No one asked for virtually every great franchise that exists today and yet very few would regret that they exist. If it's meant as a slight to indicate something is unwanted, it fails wholly because the games industry "asking" for something doesn't in any way, shape or form indicate whether or not something is great.

You're better than that, Nintendo Life.

Oh, and for the record, plenty of people have asked for this game on Switch, anyway. People on Switch forums are non-stop asking for ports of everything under the sun.

I've only played it handheld so far but the driving is so, so bad. Was it always this bad? Or is the frame rate just low? It feels like a two-second delay between moving the control stick and actually steering.

@Expa0While neat at first I don't think I even finished 4 because of how easy the powers made it. You didn't really need vehicles or uber weapons either. It's like most of the super man comics without a mega bad guy from the 60's.

Not that it was a bad game but I prefer 3 because of the lack of superpowers.

Though I can still see why you would prefer 4. Running around the city like the flash was pretty fun.

This game is so much fun portability. I get the frame rate issues from time to time, but it isn't game breaking or anything. I'm hoping the patch fixes that. I got this on the Xbox 360/Xbox One a while back and didn't hesitate to double dip on the Switch. The game still holds up after so many years. I still laugh at the terrible car karaoke. I still wish there was more camera options for driving mode, possibly more pulled back isometric angle like GTA V has.

It still feels like a lived in world with all the shenanigans and crudeness that gave it the not-so-serious edge it needed to be a different sandbox action RPG. It's a great time waster, even just driving around causing havoc.

I prefer this with a pro controller (The bumpers are easier to hit), but it's very capable in handheld mode with help from my Skull&Co GripCase. I've only played in handheld or table top. So I can't comment on docked mode's performance.

I've been rotating play sessions between this, Bastion and Dragon's Dogma.. such a blast!

@Dellybelly they can't port a game over on a new system (with cartridges) and expect to sell it for what everyone else is selling it for. If you're keen eyed, you can get it for less than $10 pre-owned at GameStop. The fact is costs compared to digital only and physical. They will lose money if they lowered Switch eShop to $20 and physical for $40. $40 is a tad high, better at $30, but it is what it is.

Digital can be dirt cheap after time has passed, because you don't have to factor for distribution/marketing and brick and mortar. So essentially depending on the publisher and eshop ratio, we pay more for digital sales than physical sales. New releases match the $60, but in turn they're probably gaining an extra $15+ per digital sale than physical. More so, doesn't have stock issues to have a game sit in a digital storefront for years and depreciate slowly over time.. there's no physical media to lose money on and I'm sure they've already made their money back years prior. This is just convenience than having to keep printing media to retain it in-store.

Keep in mind digital runs in to licensing and ownership issues (unless it's an online or "games as a service"). Anddd also.. it's definitive edition. So the cheapest physical route is used probably won't come with any of the premium DLC package came with. I'm not "all-in" with this digital world yet. I may get a game here or there mainly based on the fact that the physical to digital for THAT game platform is vastly different.

For anyone new to it that has last gen systems, I'd suggest Xbox 360, because it works on Xbox One via backwards compatibility and it's essentially the same game minus upscaling. It's cheap, physical and plays on modern consoles (might not have the DLC, my copy is the default release). The Switch version is very liberating to play in handheld or take it with you from docked mode to continue the adventure.. Than in itself is worth it for me, so I can maximize my time. Dragon's Dogma is fun in the same way and I cannot wait until MUA3 comes out to be mobile with that one as well.

Oh dear. Are you aware this is a public forum? You’ve actually posted that so other people can see. Including grown ups like me who are going to point and laugh and mock you. Not me, I’ve got much better things to do than spend any time beyond this post on witless Internet forum children. But trust me, you need to keep stuff like that in your head. You and all the other coincidentally similar miserable new arrivals.

@JayJ i always look elsewhere for the quality of a switch game. mainly digital foundry. it's the best place to know if the port actually has effort into it or not. hellblade shook me how they made it run at a relatively consistant 30fps, i didn't expect that at all. but saints row as a ton of issues and they didn't bother to talk about them. they are extremely biased and it's one reason why i only come here for news and not their reviews.

@LOZ_Master95 It's kinda sad because NintendoLife used to be amazing for reviews. If you look at the way this site was run back in the Wii era they were incredible about reviewing games and they somehow managed to review nearly every single game that got released on wiiware and virtual console. It goes to show the kind of dedication this site used to have under it's old management.

Things changed on this site with the Switch. I am pretty sure it goes down to the lead editor leaving for a different job, after the new guy took over I noticed how there was far less reviews and far more clickbait articles. Now it's like the reviews are kind of a joke around here, this site is no longer informative when it comes to helping you decide which games are worth buying unless you are asking the community for help. The community is honestly the #1 reason I come here.

"As a port, the Nintendo Switch version of Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package looks and runs really well – especially for a game as old as Skyrim. The frame rate only ever stutters during cutscenes, and runs super-smooth during actual gameplay." Sorry which version was he playing? Just watched the Digital Foundry video and the games looks and runs dreadfully.

Then again I've seen lots of poor articles from Dom including blatant lies

Just played the first 5 minutes. Anyone know why my (very little) progress didn't save? It did say something about not being able to save at checkpoints or something along those lines. Anyone know when I can save before I progress further into the game?

@carlos82 Seems like he is just blind to frame rate dips, if he's going to say the performance is fine then he should at least get facts by actually testing it. It's the second worst port on Switch, only Ark is worse. Not only does the frame rate tank to the mid teens, the graphics are atrocious and the worst thing is there's a huge input delay compared to the original.